ArenaBowl returns to the team with the top remaining playoff seed on Aug. 23

The Arena Football League announced today that the ArenaBowl will return to the highest remaining playoff seed, which gives the two-time defending champion Rattlers even more incentive.

Arizona won the past two titles at neutral sites -- beating the Philadelphia Soul in 2012 in New Orleans and again last August in Orlando.

The last time the highest remaining playoff seed hosted was in 2011, when the Rattlers lost at home to the Jacksonville Sharks 73-70.

A great, much more electric atmosphere, not to mention bigger crowds, is created by the home crowd in the championship game since the inception of the AFL in 1987.

“We listened to our fans and our fans wanted ArenaBowl to be a home game,” AFL Commissioner Jerry B. Kurz said in a statement released by the league. “We’ve also added a bye week in between the Conference Championships and ArenaBowl, which will give our fans and teams an additional week to prepare and ensure that ArenaBowl XXVII on ESPN is the best ArenaBowl yet.”

ArenaBowl XXVII will start at 8 p.m. Eastern time on Aug, 23, a Saturday, and televised live on ESPN.

There also is a new tie-breaking pr

The League has also announced revised tiebreaking procedures to account for the new conference alignment in 2014. Four teams from each conference will clinch playoff berths, with the four division winners claiming the top two seeds in their respective conferences.